Carrot Cake is one of my go-to Easter desserts, I've made it as a cake and cupcakes but I've never had it as a donut. This Carrot Cake Donuts recipe from Christie at A Sprinkle of This an That uses box cake mix to make it quick and easy yet it's still authentic and delicious with cream cheese frosting and coconut topping.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Happy First Day of Spring! It's supposed to snow a few inches this afternoon but hopefully this is the last snow of the season and we can move on quickly to sunny, warm weather.

When we used to go to Carrabba's in Florida by my Mom's house this was the dish I would always order. The Carrabba's near us in NJ is always so crowded and my husband doesn't like to wait long for a table so I only go to Carrabba's when I'm visiting my Mom. I found this recipe on Pinterest from www.allrecipes.com.

Directions:
Season chicken breasts with Italian seasoning. Spray PAM cooking spray on grill and heat until grill is hot.
While chicken is cooking make the lemon sauce.

In a saute pan add 2 tbsp butter and sauce the onions and garlic until soft. Add white wine and lemon juice. Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium low to reduce. Let cool slightly and add remaining butter stirring constantly until butter melts. Do not let butter get too hot or it will separate. Add sun dried tomatoes and basil and cook another minute.

When chicken is almost finished cooking add goat cheese slice to chicken. Chicken should be cooked to at least 165 degrees before being taken off the grill. You want the goat cheese to be softened and warm.

Take the chicken off the grill and place on a plate. Spoon lemon butter sauce over top, making sure each chicken piece has enough sun dried tomatoes, onions and basil on it. Serve while warm. I chopped a few extra pieces of basil to put on top. This chicken goes nicely with mashed potatoes.

Since it's St. Patrick's Day I wanted to feature something for the holiday. I picked these Irish Nachos from Deb at It's Me Deb CB. I've never had Irish Nachos but I love a good stuffed potato skin!! Happy St. Patrick's Day :)

Monday, March 9, 2015

This month for Secret Recipe Club I was assigned The Harried Cook. Marsha's blog has lots of different baked goods, delicious looking scones, muffins and cookies that are totally worth checking out. I wanted to find something for St Patrick's day since we are only a week away and I was in luck when I came across Marsha's recipe for Irish Soda Bread. I usually buy Irish Soda Bread from the food store in the days leading up to St. Patrick's Day. I like to put a slice in the toaster oven for breakfast with a little bit of butter. ShopRite's version of it has raisins and since that's what I'm used to eating, I decided to add raisins to my loaf. I really enjoy the little bit of sweetness they add to the bread. This recipe make a huge loaf which is great if you've got a lot of mouths to feed or like to share your baked goods with other people. I love that this is a bread you can make without yeast and the time it takes to wait for it to rise. In fact since I still have the buttermilk in the fridge I may just make another loaf to eat with our corned beef and cabbage next week.

Ingredients:

4 Cups Bread Flour

4 Tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Baking Powder

4 Tbsp I Can't Believe it's not Butter - cold & diced

2 Cups Cold Reduced Fat Buttermilk

1 Egg

1 Cup Raisins

A little all purpose flour for kneading

Preheat oven to 400. Put parchment paper or something similar down on your baking tray, if you don't have either you can grease your baking tray with butter or spray it with Pam. In a small bowl combine the wet ingredients (buttermilk and egg). Set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients in your mixer bowl (flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda). Mix on a slow speed until combined. Add the diced up cold butter and mix again on a low speed.

Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients while the mixer is running on a low speed. Only allow the dough to mix until it is just combined. Do not over mix the dough. It will be wet and lumpy but that's what you want.

Add the raisins and gently mix them in using a spatula.

Transfer the dough onto a well floured surface to knead. Knead the dough which will disperse the raisins more throughout the whole loaf. Form the dough into s round loaf and transfer it onto the baking tray shaking off some of the flour.Using a serrated knife cut an X into the dough.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the whole loaf is golden brown. The base of the loaf should sound hollow when knocked on the counter.Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Slice and serve. Keep wrapped in foil until used.

About Us

We are a mother daughter team of foodies, blogging since the end of 2010. We love to eat therefore we enjoy cooking and baking. We are always looking for new tasty recipes to share with each other. We will take turns blogging about the delicious dishes we find. Enjoy our Flavors!